Demo impressions: Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars (PC)

Frank goes hands-on with the C&C3 demo and prepares to break on through with …

In just a few short weeks, the next incarnation of the Command and Conquer series is set to launch. For many, this is a momentous event: the second (or rather, third) coming of a series that many hold close to their heart. Though I'm not a diehard C&C fan, I do appreciate a good RTS and I've been anxious to get my hands on C&C after my rather bland time with Supreme Commander. My anxiety was relieved last night, as I managed to play the huge demo put out by EA.

The meaty demo covers a variety of different maps. There's a single skirmish map and three campaign maps to tide you over. The demo's tutorial and introductory mission revolve around the GDI faction. The tutorial is relatively painless and will get you acclimated to the typical RTS fare pretty quickly. Once you actually start the first real mission, you learn a little bit about what's going on. With Kane and Nod out of the picture, things have been pretty quiet considering the state of war. The first mission stars a rather routine trip out into some badlands marked as a yellow-zone to investigate apparent Nod activity, which is conveyed through the Ironside-guided FMV. You're then thrust into the fray. Finish the mission and you'll head out to Egypt for another helping of yellow-zone combat before completing the demo.

The most noticeable element of the game is the gorgeous presentation. Built on top of the Battle for Middle-Earth II engine, the extreme refinement of the graphical presentation throughout the demo is impressive. Small details in the effects of missiles spewing smoke as they whiz through the air, the burn of laser beams, and the treads clawing up dirt really demonstrate the care and attention to detail that was plugged into this game. It's not the typical EA fare here.

The other impressive feature of the game is the gorgeous interface. One of the things that really bothered me about Supreme Commander was the ungodly interface: congesting the screen and looking ugly to boot. The C&C3 interface is streamlined and non-invasive, with transparencies and other various effects, allowing you an incredible amount of flexibility without blocking the action—especially so if you have a widescreen monitor. The control through the interface has also been tuned.

Widescreen monitor support was nice, and the game loaded reasonably fast. We did have problems playing the game on Windows Vista, however. One machine produced errors complaining of DirectX 9 problems, but two other Vista machines performed admirably. If you find yourself having problems, be sure to update DirectX before installing.

The gameplay itself is as solid as ever, and it appears that there have been many different tweaks for the sake of balance. As is the tradition with RTS games, a more extensive play time is likely to reveal small little details that stand out as either fantastic or flawed. The interface has been tweaked and the presentation as a whole is impressive. Heck, even the FMVs that I was skeptical about add a certain personality to the game. At one point, I even found myself giggling and yelling out (as one of our readers put it) "Break on through, Micheal Ironside!" Overall, I really enjoyed my time spent with C&C3 and I'm looking forward to picking it up come March 28.